Birthday Cakes and Fluffy Fun
by Mystrana
Summary: Harry's 16th birthday party has been planned by Hermione. Little does she know, Draco's got his own plans! This fic was written for Nyssa, who drew a lovely pic for my fic The Most Unlikely Dare. Completely fluffy and funny!


Notes: This is a bit of Draco/Harry fluff-type-stuff, with a dash of leather thrown in, and some Ron/Hermione for good measure. It turned out a bit longer than expected, but that's a GOOD thing. Enjoy!  
  
  
  
"Ron, it's Harry's 16th birthday next week. We should really get him a great present, shouldn't we?" Hermione's anxious voice was heard as she and Ron walked through Diagon Alley together.  
  
"Well," replied Ron, "What's a really great present?"  
  
Hermione thought for a long minute. She paced back and forth. She thought some more. She paced some more. Finally, she grinned, stopped pacing, and turned to Ron. "I've got it!"  
  
"Ok, then, what is it?" Ron asked. The two of them made their way to a small restaurant and sat down.  
  
"Well, obviously, since he's been at the Dursleys, he's never gotten a decent birthday party," Hermione said. They had to pause that conversation to order quickly, and then Hermione continued, "So I suggest we should throw him a birthday party."  
  
"That's your great idea???" Ron said loudly, starling the waiter who had brought their food. He apologized to the waiter and then said to Hermione, "Really! Anyone can throw him a birthday party."  
  
"But no one has," Hermione said earnestly. "And we're going to make it perfect! We'll have great decorations, we'll have great food, we'll have a ton of people - well, only the people he likes of course - and of course a giant cake."  
  
Ron grinned, "And HOW, might I ask, are we going to pay for this?"  
  
Hermione shrugged. "We'll think of some way."  
  
"Hey," Ron said, eating some of his mashed potatoes, "We could always owl Harry and ask to borrow some money from him." He grinned.  
  
"You have potato in your teeth," Hermione informed him, giving him a napkin, "And I think it would be terribly tacky to borrow money from the person we're giving a party."  
  
"Oh, right." Ron wiped the potato bit off his teeth, and grinned, "Hey, let's get one of those muggle cakes where the people jump out of them!"  
  
Hermione blinked. "Hmmm," she pondered, "That might be a good idea." She paused. "Who, though, would do it?"  
  
"We could ask Cho Chang or someone," Ron said offhandly. "Didn't they go out last year?"  
  
Nodding, Hermione took out a piece of paper, and wrote ~Harry's Birthday Party~ on top of it. Underneath, she wrote ~Decorations, Guests, Food, Cake~ And under cake she wrote ~Ask Cho~  
  
"I think we should plan the rest of this tonight then," Ron suggested.  
  
"Ok."  
  
They finished their meal in silence, and the waiter gave them the bill.  
  
"Oh," added Hermione, "And whatever you do, don't tell George or Fred about this; I'm perfectly sure they'll 'accidentally' tell Harry and what a mess that would be!"  
  
"OK. Hey, Hermione, who's paying the bill?" Ron asked, as they got up.  
  
Hermione grinned. "Why, you are, of course. You're the one that asked me out!"  
  
~~~  
  
In less than the seven days they had until Harry's birthday, Ron and Hermione had gotten things together perfectly. In fact, they were going better than perfectly; they had booked a large, wizard club to use, and had gotten Mrs. Weasley to help with the food. The guest list was now coming along nicely.  
  
"I never knew your mom was such a good cook," Hermione said as she and Ron got out a box of paper to make invitation. "She and my mom have managed to get a ton of stuff ready! They're working on the cake now."  
  
"Yeah, my mom is a good cook," Ron said proudly. He pulled out the paper and Hermione got out a list of 5th year students.  
  
"Maybe we should ask some 6th year students to come so that Cho doesn't feel like she's the oldest person there . . ." Hermione said, "That could make her feel uncomfortable."  
  
"You mean she's already agreed to go ahead with this?" Ron asked, playing with a pen and drawing squiggleys on the paper.  
  
Hermione nodded. "I talked to her earlier today. She should be coming by later so we can discuss the finer points of the plan and we'll have to talk with my mom and yours too." She looked at Ron. "And stop scribbling on the paper!"  
  
Ron sighed and stopped scribbling. "Yes, mother," he said, grinning.  
  
Rolling her eyes, Hermione started reading out names, and then she paused. "Actually, here. YOU read out the names and I'll write out the invitations. Your handwriting, no offense, sucks."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
~~~  
  
Cho arrived around five, and waved to them when she saw them in the backyard. "Hey guys. I'm here!"  
  
"Great!" Hermione smiled. "So you don't mind jumping out of a cake for Harry?"  
  
"Nah, it sounds like fun!" Cho said enthusiastically.  
  
After explaining the boring stuff, like the cue to jump out of the cake, and the like, Hermione and Ron led Cho to Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger, who were putting the cake together currently.  
  
"The inside of the cake is a cardboard base, onto which the cake has been put," Mrs. Granger said. She turned to Hermione and smiled. "I promise that we didn't make it completely sugar free - just the candies on it."  
  
Hermione smiled back. She had been worried her mom would have tried to make it completely sugar free (and taste free) but it seemed luck was smiling on her.  
  
Mrs. Weasley nodded, and showed them how the top of the cake could come up and down. "Well, Ron's father tried to show me how to use springs and stuff to make it more like the muggle versions of these, but even with Hermione's mother's help, we couldn't do it. So, when you need to pop out of this, just tap the cover, say 'Open' and in five seconds, it will open."  
  
"So we'll have to make sure the cue comes just before everyone turns to the cake," Hermione summarized. "Ok, that's easy enough. Thanks so much for making the cake!"  
  
"No problem." Both Ron's and Hermione's moms, especially Ron's, had felt that Harry did indeed need a wonderful birthday party, so they had gone all out.  
  
The cake, in layers, was chocolate, white, chocolate, white, chocolate. There was vanilla frosting on it, with chocolate frosting as trim. Sprinkles, candies, and candied flowers decorated ever tier of it.  
  
In other words, it was a work of art.  
  
"I'd like to see a muggle bakery do that," Mrs. Weasley said satisfiedly to Ron, but quietly; she didn't want Mrs. Granger to think she was making fun of her.  
  
Hermione went inside with Cho to plan her outfit, and Ron went to the post office (the wizard one) to owl out all the invitations.  
  
~~~  
  
"Ok, total delivery cost will be a galleon, and three sickles," the postmaster told Ron.  
  
"Gah, so expensive," muttered Ron, pulling out the money. "Ah, blast, I only have a galleon."  
  
"That means you can't deliver one owl," the postmaster informed Ron.  
  
'Wait, we still have Errol,' Ron thought, so he said, "Ok, that's ok. I'll take back one of the letters."  
  
He grabbed one of them, and started on his way home. Upon arriving at said home, he tied the letter to Errol and said, "Ok, just deliver this one letter, Errol, I know you can do it!" Errol gave a feeble sort of chirping noise, flying up lopsidedly before flying out in to the sky. "Or not. We can only hope."  
  
~~~  
  
Errol flew doggedly for an hour, searching for house he was supposed to deliver the letter to. ~Colin Creevley~ read the address.  
  
Finally, Errol was getting really tired, and it was obvious the letter addressed to Colin Creevley would not be delivered. Errol finally flew through the closest open window, and landed with a *THUNK* on the ground.  
  
The thunk caused the person in the room to turn around. "An owl." He said simply, and went to see the letter, wondering who would be owling him. He noticed that it was not addressed to him. "Hmmm, to Colin Creevley indeed. Let's see what this is all about."  
  
Untying the letter from Errols feet and magicking up a dish of water for the bird, the boy went to his bed to read the letter. Opening it, he found it was an invitation.  
  
" 'You are invited to Harry Potters 16th Birthday Party, July 31st, at 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Dinner will be served,' " he read the letter aloud to himself, and grinned. " 'This is a SURPRISE party, so DON'T tell Harry!' " He grinned even wider. "Why, I do believe I have a party to get to tomorrow," He told the owl, who paid him no attention.  
  
The fading sunlight lit up his pale features, especially his smirk, and Draco Malfoy turned to his wardrobe to plan his outfit.  
  
~~~  
  
The next day, July 31st, Harry woke up with a happy grin on his face. His friends, Ron and Hermione, had asked him to come to the Burrow to spend the afternoon with him. Of course, that meant the morning at the Dursleys would be hell, but it'd be worth it.  
  
~~~  
  
"Is everything set up?" Hermione asked, bustling about to get everything set up. There were tables set up with chips, and another table - empty for now, but at dinner time, would hold the food for dinner. It was to be a buffet. There was a section for dancing, a section for sitting, and a stage for the band.  
  
"Yes, and do calm down," Ron told her, "You're going to have a heart attack." He grinned. "The decorations look great - this old club looked horrible before but now it looks good."  
  
Hermione glared a little at the heart attack comment, but nodded and sat down. "Then we're all set. Good. The guest's will start arriving in a bit. Cho is getting ready right now."  
  
Ron nodded. "And Harry is scheduled to arrive?"  
  
"Twenty minutes after everyone else gets here. Oh - what IS that?"  
  
Errol had just come through one of the windows, looking like a huge shapeless thing, when Hermione realized another owl was supporting it. She stroked the owl in thanks for helping Errol, and then it fluttered off.  
  
"Huh, I wonder whose owl that is. I didn't think Colin had such a big owl." Ron said. Hermione looked confused, so Ron explained how he had to use Errol to deliver the last invitation.  
  
"Poor Errol!" Hermione said, giving it some water in the corner of the room.  
  
~~~  
  
Cho was humming to herself as she pulled on a green shirt - the color of Harry's eyes - and matching skirt and socks. 'Harry will love this, I KNOW he will!' She turned to the mirror and brushed out her hair. After a minute, she decided to pull half of it back and tie it with a green ribbon.  
  
She stood up and spun around. "Perfect!" she said aloud.  
  
"Indeed?" Questioned a voice behind her. Cho looked around, startled.  
  
Whatever she had expected to see, it was certainly not what she saw in front of her. Draco Malfoy stood, in tight leather pants (boot cut), amazing black boots (that looked to go half way up his calf), and a tight black t-shirt (which showed off his muscles), glaring at her.  
  
"What are YOU doing here?" she questioned. She had seen him a few times, and remembered his name to be Draco. 'Oh yeah, Harry told me that they were fighting that one time.'  
  
"I'm here for Harry's party," Draco said simply. He looked bored as he glanced at her outfit. "What, pray tell, is that for?"  
  
"I'm going to jump out of the cake for Harry," Cho said, "And doesn't Harry hate you? Why are you here?"  
  
Draco rolled his eyes. "No, Harry doesn't hate me. I'm here because I want to be. And no, you're not going to jump out of the cake for Harry," he said drolly, glancing at the mirror and fixing the collar around his neck.  
  
"Excuse me?" Cho asked. She tried to remember what it was Harry had told her. 'He and I fight sometimes' Harry had said, 'I think he hates me.' 'Do you hate him?' she had asked. He had looked thoughtful and said, 'I don't know. I think maybe it's just a game we play without even knowing it.'  
  
"I'm going to be in that cake."  
  
"But you hate Harry," Cho replied, with a toss of her black hair.  
  
"No." Replied Draco. He sighed, as if he were bored. "This talking gets so droll. I think it's about time for them to get the cake." He pulled out his wand. "Oh, don't worry, I'll wake up after the party." He pointed the wand at her, and before Cho could do anything, said, "Stupefy!"  
  
Cho fell backwards, but Draco nimbly caught her, and placed her underneath the table that had all the leftover decorations on it; it had a long tablecloth that would surely hide her.  
  
"Let's get the cake," Hermione's voice came from down the hall.  
  
Making sure his collar was still on properly, and fixing the spiked bracelets on his wrists, Draco quickly scrambled into the cake, and pulled down the top.  
  
In a minute, he heard Hermione's voice. "Cho? Are you ready? We're going to wheel you out, and then just wait for the cue, ok?"  
  
Hoping that his voice would be sufficiently muffled enough by the cake to pass as Cho's, he said, "Ok." 'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'I don't know the cue.' "What's the cue again?" he asked tentatively, hoping that they wouldn't get suspicious.  
  
"Oh, right, we changed it," Hermione said, "I expect it's hard to remember. But I'm going to say 'Lets have some cake' and then you just have to tap the cake top and say 'open'. I trust you remember that it's a five second wait, so do it quickly!"  
  
Draco nodded, which was a stupid thing to do since they couldn't see him, and said, "Yup."  
  
"Ok then. Try not to move around too much." Hermione said as she and Ron started wheeling the cake out of the room. Draco decided that the cake must either be pretty big, or he was just small; he had plenty of leg room, and for that, he was grateful.  
  
~~~  
  
Harry arrived at the Burrow at the expected time, and Mrs. Weasley answered the door. "Ron and Hermione went ahead to the club, but go on, I'll lend you some floo powder! There's a room just before the club that had a fireplace in it. That's something that makes wizards clubs different than muggle ones."  
  
'A club?' thought Harry. He hoped it wasn't too far; he didn't want to be late. Briefly, he wondered if his clothing was suitable for a club. He decided that it was the best he could do, because when all you get are clothes ten sizes too big, you have to make do.  
  
Harry had altered some of them at Hogwarts, and he was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green shirt which had been shrunk just a tad much, but wasn't uncomfortably tight, and his favorite pair of brown boots.  
  
Mrs. Weasley reappeared with the jar of floo powder, and beckoned Harry to come in.  
  
"Thank you," He said, taking a pinch, and throwing it into the fire. The flames turned green, and he said, loudly, "The Corner Club" which was probably the corny name of the club. He hoped that Hermione and Ron would be easy to spot.  
  
~~~  
  
Instantly after he disappeared into the fire, Mrs. Weasley apparated to the club to tell Hermione that Harry was coming. Ron and Hermione rushed to greet him while everyone hid.  
  
"Harry! There you are, happy birthday!" called Ron as Harry stepped out of the fireplace.  
  
"Happy birthday, Harry," echoed Hermione as she appeared.  
  
"Thank you, both of you," Harry said. "You've been having a good summer?"  
  
Both of them nodded. Hermione added an extra nod in Ron's direction, and Ron took the cue to grab Harry's arm and lead him to the inside of the club.  
  
"It could just be me," Harry said suddenly, "But isn't there supposed to people in clubs?"  
  
Everyone took that moment to jump out, yelling, "Surprise!"  
  
Harry took a step backwards; indeed he was surprised. "What . . . wow . . .why are they all here?" he managed to ask.  
  
"Happy birthday Harry!" they all chorused together (save for one Colin Creevley who was at home, having never received his invitation, and was trying to hack into Hogwarts schedules to find out Harry's for next year).  
  
"Oh, wow, thank you guys so much!" Harry said. He had never expected something like this!  
  
"C'mon Harry, you can open your presents in a minute," Hermione said, "But first let's have some cake!"  
  
Draco was no idiot; he heard his cue, so he poked his wand at the top of the cake and whispered, "Open!" quickly. '5 . . . 4. . .3 . . . 2 . . .1 . . "  
  
The cake top popped over just as everyone had gathered around the cake. Hermione and Ron expected Cho to pop out as well, but were totally surprised when a thin blonde boy in leather came out as well.  
  
"Malfoy!" muttered Ron angrily, and for a minute, everyone looked on in a mixture of shock and amazement.  
  
Draco grinned broadly. "Happy birthday Harry!"  
  
"What are you-" Ron began, but Harry cut him off.  
  
"Oh my . . ." Harry muttered, turning to Hermione, "Hermione! Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
Hermione opened her mouth to say something along the lines of an apology and that it was supposed to be Cho, but Harry continued right on.  
  
"I thought you didn't have a clue that I had a crush on Draco!" Harry ended happily.  
  
Draco grinned, and jumped nimbly out of the cake, not getting even a sprinkle out of place. Harry took a moment to appreciate the leather and tight shirt before grinning and saying, "Thank you so much Hermione and Ron! I never would have thought. . . well, I'm impressed."  
  
What could Ron and Hermione do but smile and nod?  
  
~~~  
  
The party ended up smoothly; everyone enjoyed the food and music, Harry got a multitude of presents, and a lap dance from Draco.  
  
As everyone started to go home, Draco stayed. When he, Hermione, Ron and Harry were the only left, and Hermione and Ron were going get Cho (Draco had told them where she was), Draco grinned.  
  
"That was amazing," Harry said, "I never expected Hermione and Ron to know that I would have loved to have you at my party. I wouldn't have told them because I thought they would have said no."  
  
"Actually, I did this on my own," Draco said. "They were going to have Cho do it."  
  
"Oh." Harry blinked. "Well, I'm glad you ended up in there."  
  
Draco nodded, and smiled at Harry. "You know, my birthday isn't that far off . . ." 


End file.
